premise of One Punch-Man that’s its main character Saitama stronger than anything and anyone he could face, and the source of his mysterious power may have been explained: the breaking of limits. Because the manga began as an imitation of the shounen genre, the reason why Saitama is so powerful has never been explained. However, one explanation proposed in the story makes perfect sense given the most recent developments in the manga.
At the beginning of One Punch-Man, Saitama is an unemployed youth with a nihilistic attitude. He has no purpose in life and believes that he will never find a purpose, nor integrate into society. After a chance encounter with a monster (also known as a “mysterious creature” in the manga), he recalls his childhood dream of becoming a hero and begins to practice every day. His “training” is really nothing fancy, just 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 squats, along with a 10km run, but he does it every day. After three years, he was so strong that he could defeat any monster with a single punch. He then began his career as a pro hero, but due to his overwhelming strength, nothing was too challenging for him, meaning he still struggled to find motivation. force or excitement.
Limiter Break is the best explanation for Saitama’s power
There’s no way that Saitama’s simple training explains his strength: other professional heroes in the manga have trained in more gruesome ways and are nowhere near his level. However, there is a theory that could explain it, proposed by Dr. Genus, an evil scientist who was previously destroyed by Saitama’s experiments. After witnessing the hero’s power, in chapter #89 of One-Punch Man Genus theorized that Saitama was able to remove something he called a “limiter”. After being defeated, Genus reformed and accepted Saitama’s teachings that man’s true strength is the ability to change and grow. However, in conversation with one of his “experiments”, S-rank Zombieman hero Genus later added that there is a limit to the growth of a creature, human or monster, set by “God” to ensure that one does not achieve. unlimited power, thus losing all sense of purpose and sanity.
The “boundary breaking” theory was debunked by Dr. Genus in chapter #89, long after his meeting with Saitama and “a bit of humor about the training regimen” (in chapter #11) , so it has been more documented. Also, the same theory emerged later through the work of Psykos, the mastermind behind the Monster Association, who experimented to find ways to circumvent growth limits. Her only success was the Monster King Orochi, who started out as a normal human and became the strongest monster through repeated near-death experiences. This was mentioned in chapter #94, proving that “limit breaking” is indeed an important and repeated concept in manga. It also proves that there is a connection between the process of “breaking the limit” and “monsterization”, a fact confirmed by the evolution of Garou, a martial artist who turned into a monster. extremely powerful through the same process of repeatedly fooling death.
Saitama broke the limit imposed by “God”
However, Genus states that being a monster doesn’t remove the creature’s “limitations”, it simply elevates it to new levels, which explains why Saitama is still stronger than Orochi, Garou and all other monsters he encounters. Finally, Genus’ mention of “God” may refer to the mysterious almighty being who is the main antagonist of the series. Saitama has been called a “rebellious puncher against God” by one of God’s monster servants, which can be interpreted as confirmation that Saitama has indeed broken the limits imposed by God, due to that became his sworn enemy. Genus revisits his theory in chapter #190, when Zombieman, after learning of Saitama’s incredible strength, asks the scientist to break his limits, in order to become a better hero.
It remains unclear how Saitama was able to break his limits and why he didn’t lose his mind in the process. It’s also interesting that Genus refers to “losing purpose” as a risk of having too much power: perhaps Saitama avoided losing his mind because he had very little purpose to begin with, other than becoming a hero (a concept explored in the additional flashback chapter “200 yen”). Also, during his battle with Garou, it is shown that Saitama’s greatest fear is losing his humanity due to the separation his powers create, which could be another clue. Although the origin of Saitama’s power remains a mystery, the repetition of the “boundary breaking” theory in the story makes it the most reliable explanation to date.
